


a flash and a bang

by StormySkiesAhead



Series: fur and feathers universe [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Numb3rs (TV), background mcu but like REALLY background, will tag more later - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Crack Treated Seriously, Female Harry Potter, Gen, JKR can fight me and my venomous shapeshifters, Moondancers, Multi, Other, QWC is a bit more yikes than canon, Sequel, Werewolves, bc the family is matriarchal and it added to The Drama, does it count as that at this point tbh?, it did when i wrote the og fic but i'm not so sure now, perhaps not, perhaps the primeval aspects from the side series will come into play in the main series, sorry abt that but it did get people where i needed them, this series just will not let me go huh, uhhh T’karians have round pupils now BUT editing all of that in TTR would cause me physical pain, yes i said venomous shapeshifters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25520287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormySkiesAhead/pseuds/StormySkiesAhead
Summary: There’s a chittering, chirping noise as Ari lands between them, flaring her wings a few times as she settles into place, claws hooking into the shingled rock.“I heard we’re talking about the plans,” she churrs, and rattles her feathers as she closes her wings behind her. Ron makes space on the ledge by shifting back to human, while Cedric’s large leathery wings make themselves known as he lands.-Or: several non-humans try to survive until adulthood. the adults around them try to keep that from happening.-Please read "the thunder rumbles" before this one.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Original Character(s)
Series: fur and feathers universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1316921
Kudos: 10





	1. summer winds give way to fall (or, the Quidditch World Cup)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. we're back on this horse again, huh?  
> for anyone who did not heed the warnings:  
> \- please read TTR first  
> \- genderswapped harry is an alien with venomous fangs and giant bird wings and fluffy ears and a tail that can turn into other things and throw lightning at people. these are called t'karians.  
> \- PLEASE read TTR first  
> \- her foster dad is an oc, also a multiform shapeshifter, and is primarily a wolf the size of a horse/a five and a half foot tall trauma surgeon  
> \- when i say "this will not make sense without ttr" i MEAN it

Hermione feels the wind ruffle her hair, and looks up to see a dark shape flicker past.

“You going to join them?” she asks Ron, who shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

“That’s T’karian business. You think I’m going to try to out-fly either of them?” he replies, “I might try to get into a fight with Cedric later, though. I’m bigger than him in scales.”

“Yeah, but you’re a four-limbs, and he’s a six. It’s like a really big bird picking a fight with Ari.”

“Thank you for your _confidence,”_ Ron rumbles, growing and stretching, red hair and pale skin replaced by gleaming red scales. He’s gotten bigger over the summer by an enormous margin, and his roar ricochets off the cliffside where they’re resting.

“So, what are you all planning to do for the World Cup?” she asks Cassius and Ian, both lounging in the sun that warms the rocks. They’d volunteered to chaperone this little excursion, while those not interested in climbing or flying above the cliffs stay back with Professor Lupin, which is a significant portion of the current group.

 _“Oh, Molly offered to take her- and you- with the rest of the Weasley family.”_ Cassius hums, crossing one massive paw over the other.

There’s a chittering, chirping noise as Ari lands between them, flaring her wings a few times as she settles into place, claws hooking into the shingled rock.

“I heard we’re talking about the plans,” she churrs, and rattles her feathers as she closes her wings behind her. Ron makes space on the ledge by shifting back to human, while Cedric’s large leathery wings make themselves known as he lands.

“Yes, I think my family is going with yours,” Cedric says, indicating Ron with a tilt of his head once he shifts back to human form. Cassius stretches, showing off his claws, and stands. Fizz seems to realize they’re talking about something important, because the T’karian has dug herself into the side of the cliff just above them before long, ears pointed downwards towards them. Hermione waves. They don’t have long before Fizz is back on T’kari, so she’s glad to see the girl when she can.

-

“Oh! Rory! Good to see you!” Kaleb says, spinning around in his chair. Elle raises her eyebrows, and goes back to talking something or another over with the rest of the bullpen.

“Hey, cuz,” Aurora Blackwood, law student, says, leaning over the table, “You seen my brother lately?”

“For the last time, Rory, he’s with the kids. I don’t know where they went. They took a lot of people, nobody wanted to stress you out.”

“And why am I not allowed to be a fun aunt?”

“Because some of the kids are barely two years younger than you? Rory, this- isn’t about the trip, is it.”

“My brother’s fostering a kid, and I didn’t find out until _two weeks ago._ Kay, why the _hell_ am I not in the loop on this? You’re leaving soon with Elle. I know _that-_ you two have been dancing around finally leaving the area for _months_. I know we all dropped the ball with Davina. Why the hell didn’t I know about this?”

“Listen, you’ll meet her at the reunion-”

“Damnit, Kaleb, when the hell did you get closer to my brother than I did?”

She’s… really upset. Kaleb understands that much. Cass is basically some amalgam of her brother _and_ her only parent- at least, he’s been so since she was three years old, so for all of her life that she can remember. To her, especially so soon after she went to law school… that probably looks like she’s been replaced.

Shit. He has to call Cass. This isn’t acceptable. Rory’s always been the most emotionally fragile member of their cousin group. He does understand _why_ that’s the case, given the circumstances, but…

“Just… here. I'm sure you can borrow either your brother or the kid for a little while. Just go.”

Elle wanders over.

“You done catching up?” Kaleb asks. Elle snorts.

“Maybe. Maybe I noticed that my impulse control was having issues with impulse control of his own. What's the story there?”

“It's a long one.”

Elle looks back to the group, laughing, at ease with one another, grief at what she's lost with this choice shining clear in her eyes.

“I've got time.”

* * *

Rory is young enough that she really doesn’t remember a time where Big Brother wasn’t playing double duty, doesn’t remember when she wasn’t in the same brood as Kaleb and his sister. She doesn’t remember a Cassius who didn’t jump at shadows when he was young, who didn’t snarl whenever anyone got too close.

She’s never missed their mother, not like he does, but she’s also never understood his problem with people until she watches him now, with a child that’s so clearly hurting, and it hits.

“Hello, brother,” she says, voice hoarse, once the rest of the kid’s friends leave. Cassius, when they were both much smaller than they are now, used to whip around, startled, but now, the turn is easy, almost lazy, and the other Moondancer cocks his head in curiosity.

“I missed you,” she whispers. It takes a lot not to cry. Cassius notices. He always notices that sort of thing. He’s always been Good like that.

“Oh honey,” he says, “We’re not going to forget you.”

Then, right then, because she’s tired and nervous and honestly not in the best place right now, is when Rory really does cry.

“Hey,” he says, “You want to hang out here until the end of summer? We could really use an extra pair of eyes sometimes.”

Rory takes the offer.

* * *

Ari knows something's _wrong_ by the very scent in the air.

She gets a call from Naftali not long after.

 _“Aunt Maya’s more upset than usual,”_ her cousin whispers, _“Keziah’s not supposed to be doing nearly as many field assignments by herself, and she gets injured. We directly_ lose _three generations of potential heiresses until you pop back up. One of our non-Demeru cousins, another half-and-half, was missing and homeless until a few months ago, and Seraphina was gone for_ years. _I mean, we might be relatively uncentralized on purpose since the last time we had large_ anything _influencing government- well-, but this is an embarrassment. We're supposed to be_ easy _to find, keep track of, and keep alive because we're all green-eyed and can take care of ourselves!”_

By the end of the rant, the whisper has become something closer to a yell.

“So, what's going on that you call the thirteen year old to give us a heads-up about?”

 _“Depends. Functionally speaking, we have cause to act. Because so many of our species are born or live off-world, we’ve got special protocols in place for this sort of thing, but none of them were even_ considering _warning you or any of the other off-world fledgelings_ or _adults about anything that might happen, so I figured- well, you said it. A heads-up.”_

“Naftali, you haven’t called in six months.”

_“Six months isn’t long! I’m over a thousand years old!”_

“Ugh, fair enough. Now, is there anything that’s going to actually happen or do I have to play that song from Falsettos at you?”

_“Kiva mentioned that one! No, you don’t.”_

“Just… warn me, if there’s anything I should know.”

_“We will.”_

Ari puts a hand on the headboard, and resists the urge to crush her phone with the other. She knows Naftali’s hiding something, even if she doesn’t know exactly _what-_ or who, considering how cagey the family as a whole seems to be- and… and she’s _sick_ of it. She’s _not-_

“You are,” Cassius says, sliding into the armchair across from her bed, the one that she curls up into when all chances of sleep has left her.

Ari’s not sure whether he overheard that in the traditional sense or the telepathic sense, but won’t stop him from elaborating if he wants to.

“You’re not even fourteen yet, Ari. Yeah, information denial sucks, but you are a _child_ and people around you are going to want to protect you. _Especially_ if they didn’t have anyone to protect them when they were your age. There is _nothing wrong_ with other people defending you.”

“I’m not going to let someone else fight my battles for me-”

“Ariela,” Cassius says, voice measured, “They shouldn’t be your battles yet.”

She doesn’t know exactly when she started crying, doesn’t know what the breaking point was, but the bed creaks with the heavy weight of Cassius’s wolf skin as she sobs into his fur.

“I just-” she manages, “I- I get so worried, when they won’t tell me, and my head makes everything worse. I just want to _know.”_

 _“I know, honey,”_ he replies, _“Believe me, I get it. And believe me when I say that we’ve got this, at least for now. Trust that we’ve got it.”_

It’s not even a surprise anymore, when she says it.

“I trust you.”

Cassius leans, front paws off the bed, and narrows his eyes.

_“You sure you’re alright to go to the World Cup, though? One of us could come with you, if you think you need moral support.”_

“No!” Ari yelps, and then, more calmly, “No. I’ll have Ron, and Hermione, and Cedric, and even Fizz once she finishes the at-home part of her courses and comes back for the practicals. I’ll be fine.”

She’s not fine.

She should have taken him up on it, she should have asked the closest thing she’s had to a dad since she was too small to remember to come with her, to stay with her, maybe she wouldn’t be so _afraid-_

Well, that’s not quite how it happens.

* * *

The morning before she leaves for the UK, two Blackwoods and Ian sit her down on the couch.

“Alright, listen,” Cassius says, “You’ve learned from Naftali, you’ve been taught the traditional wand-waving way, but right now, you are with us, which means you’re going to learn the basics of Moondancer-style magic- it’s actually not that different from T’karian, except instead of passive energy regeneration-”

Rory interrupts.

“We use active energy absorption in addition to passive to charge our magic, meaning we can do more unnatural feats for longer periods of time. Of course, most Moondancers, like most T’karians, fall back on physical talent and strength, but there are a few things you should know.”

Ari freezes the offered water under her hands, making sure to _take_ heat, not to give energy, and Rory gets to work.

She’s only a few years older than Ari herself- well, more than just a few, but it’s a smaller gap between the two of them than with Rory and her brother.

“You can call me Aunt Rory, if you want,” she says, voice measured. Ari shrugs her shoulders.

“You don’t seem mature enough to be an aunt.”

“Oh, wow, yes. You’re right on the money on that one.”

“So, how am I doing?” Ari asks.

“Good enough. Your Absorption is about at the level I’d expected- better than average for a T’karian, which is normal, given what family you hail from, but definitely something to work on. Your Conversion is good, also to be expected given the magic you usually practice. Now, I’m sure you’re thinking of a thousand and a half interesting things we could be doing with Moondancer style magic-”

Ari nods. She has been.

“Most of those require _high_ Absorption and _low_ Conversion. A lot of Moondancer magic is Absorption heavy- we tend to skew high in both, but higher in the former than the latter, which inspires a lot of reliance on flashy, powerful single-use bursts, often in the form of fire or lightning. Some members of the family- one of my cousins, though she died a while back- are very high in Conversion and while not _low_ in Absorption, seem like it compared to the rest of the family. Those folks tend to be very good at long-term crafting, such as teleportation arrays and warding. One of the reasons that Tavi guy that hangs around is so good at his arrays is his high Conversion.”

“Are you sure you want to be a lawyer? It sounds like you’re much more interested in this stuff.”

Rory’s chuckle sounds bitter to Ari’s ears, but the Moondancer doesn’t seem to notice it. Instead, she grins.

“I’ve got two other cousins- twins- who are freaky high in both. You wouldn’t think it, just looking at them, with how they tend to use it, but… it’s incredible, their control, just _looking_ at them in a fight. Both of them on the regular store enough energy to compare to an atomic bomb, and the way they use it- art, nothing but. I can’t help but be jealous.”

“You were saying, about teleportation arrays?”

There’s a light, behind Rory’s eyes, as she makes a false considering noise.

“Let’s try something more interesting,” she says, “A specialty of ours.”

Ari narrows her eyes. Rory’s smile is full of teeth.

“What?”

There are no runes, in this, not like she’s been told pre-emptive magic has to always be done- because the words and numbers and lines are only there to guide her hand. Instead, she gets just a taste of what it’s like, to gather a few of the strings of what’s real in her fingers, and twist them.

“You’ll learn to weave, eventually,” Rory hums, “And remember- the lines are good when you can’t do it all at once. You should never start making a scarf without leaving instructions, lest the next person start making a sweater.”

Ari will try to remember that much.

* * *

She forgets, at the Cup.

Ari is shaking so hard she worries she’ll vomit. Ginny is there, which is good, because she can’t tell Hermione right now and Ron or Cedric? Forget about it.

She’s curled up, into a little ball, leaning on her side. She _wants_ to take off and fly as far away as she can, drop into the water and back up again until she feels right in the head, like she’s her own again.

“Hey,” Ginny says, like she’s not a four-limbed dragon wearing a human skinsuit, like Ari’s not really claws and teeth and twice the size she is right now, “Do you need me to call someone for you?”

“No, I- I’m not sure what happened. I just needed to get out of there, you know?” she says, and curls her tail over her nose, because she can do that, because Ginny’s a dragon, not a human with that’ll freak out and call the Minister about it.

“I get it, believe me, I do- but Ari, there _wasn’t_ anyone sitting behind you, not that I could see.”

“I could hear a heartbeat,” Ari replies, “And breathing. Invisibility cloak, maybe, just- ugh. I want to climb out of my skin right now.”

“You think you can talk to Hermione now?”

“I wish Fizz was here,” she mumbles in reply into her tail, the same tail she’s halfway into shoving into her mouth like an oversized (or is it undersized? She hasn’t exactly weighed herself since she’s manifested, but she does know she’s _much_ lighter than she used to be) snow leopard, “Fizz would’ve hurt- whoever that was.”

“I thought you were about to say ‘killed,’ and I would have replied that you don’t _know_ that, but yeah, Fizz would’ve hurt them, just for spooking you like that,” Ginny says, “I’m going to go get Hermione.”

Ari’s still sitting out there when the friend who’s sitting next to her switches. She splays her wings out over the roof, her chin on the ground, and sighs.

“I can’t even be visible in this skin,” she whines, “I don’t want this for me.”

“What _do_ you want, then?” Hermione replies, drawing her legs up to her chest, “We’re not going to be at school forever. If you don’t want to join the Wizarding World, you should figure out how to fall back on yourself now, like I’m doing.”

Ari nods. She doesn’t want to think too hard right now about anything that’s just happened, so she focuses on this, instead, this little question.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you should. For example, I’m-”

Hermione’s life plans make an excellent distraction from the churning in her stomach and the itching at her claws. She doesn’t realize what’s going on below them until the World Cup has been done with for a while, and there’s burning on the ground, and the smoke is trickling in-

Her claws sink deeper into the wood as she lets out a shrieking alarm call, skittering backwards in fright. Her wings flare to get air as she moves to launch into the sky, to get _away,_ but-

She can’t leave Hermione.

“We need to run,” she growls. Hermione nods, but-

The reflection of the fire wavers in Hermione’s eyes, like she’s been hypnotized by it.

“Come _on,”_ Ari says again, a hint of a whimper crawling its way into her voice. She wraps a hand around Hermione’s and begins to tug, “We need to _go,_ before the fire reaches the stadium, we need to find the Weasleys, we need to do _something-”_

“Shift back,” Hermione snaps. Ari’s too busy panicking to question the orders.

“You have your wand?”

No, apparently, Ari does not have her wand. She curses.

“Don’t bother, let’s just move. I’m sure it’ll turn up eventually.”

Ari lets the wind carry her as she drops to the ground, and catches Hermione delicately.

“Alright, let’s try to find the rest of our people,” she says. She wants, so dearly, to open up her wings, to roar so loud nobody can avoid listening to her, she wants to _scream-_

“Hey,” Hermione says, hand wrapped around her own, “Let’s just find our people.”

* * *

Cassius is asleep on the couch when she gets back. He knows better than to prod when anyone’s this upset. Instead, he tucks his muzzle over his paws and rumbles soothingly when the teenage T’karian starts to cry.

 _“Hey, it’s not like this year could get much worse, now?”_ he asks. Ari slaps him on the snout with her tail. Fair, he’s probably just jinxed it.

_“Alright, do you want Ian and I to go with you and drop you off?”_

She nods tearfully. Cassius sighs.

This is going to be one _long_ year, isn’t it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter two will be out??? who knows when??? idk i finally had enough "ooh shiny" energy to direct towards it so i could finally post this chapter.  
> (also haha cassius i'm actually trying to squish these into fewer chapters in an attempt to entice myself into... you know... ACTUALLY WRITING THEM)


	2. howling (or: nemean lions are easy to track)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the Goblet itself, and what happens before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!

Fizah rolls through the window early one stormy morning, fire in her claws that she snuffs out gently when Lavender opens the door.

“Were you planning to melt through?” she asks. Fizz rolls her eyes and flares her wings out, crawling onto the new bed they’ve managed to set out for her.

“How about ‘did you pass your class, Fizah?’ or ‘Are you alright, Fizah?’ I cannot believe any one of you. I did pass, by the way, though I do need to work on more extensive backburn training. I mean, really, I had no idea how hard it was to put out someone else’s fire on a short term notice, but I guess it does make sense that- holy shit, Ari, are you okay?”

“Someone stole my wand back at the World Cup and I didn’t realize because I was too busy panicking because I thought someone groped me, but otherwise I’m good,” Ari replies. Fizz snarls, before shaking herself out and fanning her wings around the room.

“You see them again, you tail-whip them so hard they need plastic surgery, you got that?”

Ari nods, cowed, and Fizz’s eyes soften. The older T’karian purrs gently at her.

“Look, alright, does anyone know what’s going on with those preparations I see down in the Great Hall?” Fizz asks, smoothing down her feathers and zipping them closed again with careful claws and teeth. Ari begins to preen, too- she’s gone into a fall moult, it seems, feathers falling out in patches as the new growth comes in.

“They’re bringing back the Triwizard Tournament!” Parvati half-shouts with a wild grin. Hermione and Fay groan in unison and flop back on their pillows, while Lavender just looks confused. Fizz pauses, feathers in her mouth, and flashes out a question.

_ Why do I feel like we’re not going to be able to be just spectators this time around? _

_ Because that’s probably what’s going to happen. _

“Ugh, right, chances are you’ll get tapped no matter how much you try to avoid it,” Lavender grumbles. Ari narrows her eyes.

“What? You think I  _ wouldn’t _ take the time to learn Spotspeak when two of the people I live with for most of the year rely on it so much?”

_ That’s fair. _

She zips the new feathers shut with her teeth. The fall colors are darker, but the green along the edges is definitely more  _ vivid _ than her last molt, if not any lighter. The change isn’t even perceptible in Fizz’s, but then again, she’s now aging at a hundredth the rate of Ari herself, so-

Fizz pauses in her preening to clear her throat.

“You’re flashing what you’re thinking all over your spots again. Tone it down.”

_ Sorry, _ Ari flickers, keeping a careful eye on her bioluminescence. The feathers that are ready for her gentle hands to pull them out during her molt are obvious- they don’t listen to her color or light demands nearly as well as the rest of them. Everything except invisibility is a pain during her molts, and even that can be a hassle.

“Gets worse when you get bigger,” Fizz says. Ari jerks her head up.

“We keep growing our whole lives. My grandmother is twice my size, and I’m not exaggerating all that much. Preening is a  _ lot _ of work once you hit your final ‘true growth spurt’ around a thousand- well, it’ll be a year or two from now for you-”

“How tall d’you think I’ll be?”

“Hmm,” Fizz says, narrowing her eyes, “Demerus do get  _ big,  _ usually two metres and taller, seven and a half metre wingspan and up. You’re about one and three-quarters on the height front and six metres across, right?”

“I haven’t measured.”

“I’m a bit smaller than you and a bit smaller than that, too.”

“What about Mordechai Tavi?”

Fizz narrows her eyes.

“I  _ forgot _ he was planetside. How the  _ hell _ did they convince him to stay?”

There’s something in Fizz’s eyes, something that screams to Ari that she should probably ask about why Mordechai is well-known enough to warrant that kind of reaction.

Fizz snorts.

“Trust me, nestling, we can get  _ mean _ when we want to- mean enough for legends- but that’s not why Mordechai’s got a reputation. No, that’s his sister’s doing. Well, he was involved, I guess, but it’s mostly by association nowadays.”

* * *

If one was looking up from the ground, and they were  _ very _ lucky, they might have caught a blur of grey and violet in the corner of their eye. Thankfully for Mordechai, either none are looking or none are lucky enough to catch him.

He loves flying over desert most days, when the earth is warm enough to swirl below his feathers, offering lift he hasn’t earned, or when it’s freezing cold and the white expanse makes prey so much easier to find.

There is none of that joy to be found, today. Instead, the cold comes from the shiver down his spine as the scent of blood- human blood- drifts in on the wind, and the heat comes from the low, simmering anger in his chest at the thought of why it’s there. There’s something else, too- fur, familiar fur.

If one was looking up from the ground, they might feel a shadow cross them, a wide-winged shadow, cutting through the air like a well-sharpened knife.

_ “Lucky, the rest of the team’s landing. Meet them.” _

He makes a noise of protest, but Garcia’s learned how to see past the illegitimate ones and get him where the team needs him to be- namely by ordering him, because it’s not happening otherwise, because he’s a nosy bastard.

_ “Move that fluffy butt of yours and get it there in time to greet Hotch. Did you find anything interesting?” _

“Blood trail,” he manages, “Or, blood scent trail, really, up the mountain. Younger to older, from the dump site.”

_ “Oh, good! I’ll run checks on people who live in that area of the grid. You sure the blood was human?” _

“Garcia, I subsistence hunt in the middle of the night, you think I  _ wouldn’t _ know what human blood smells like so I could avoid it?”

_ “Eh, fair enough. Just make sure not to spook the newbie, she doesn’t know about the whole… feathers thing.” _

“Oh? I haven’t met her yet.”

_ “She’s nice!” _

“Well, that instills confidence.”

_ “Don’t be a jerk, Lucky,” _ Garcia snips.

“I wasn’t. That was a genuine response. You’re a good judge of character.”

_ “Aww, thanks! I would say you’re a good judge of character too, except you joined  _ us,  _ so-” _

“Yeah, yeah, I get it Garcia, no need to chirp me about it. I’m going.”

He arrives at the airport just before the team does. He doesn’t have Kezi’s brown contacts- or even his own- on right now, which means sunglasses it is. If he’s lucky, she’d mistake his eyes for blue, but he’s not foolish enough to bet on that.

* * *

“So, they’re on their way?” Ari asks, shuffling her letters around. There are a few she’ll put more emphasis on saving than others- most notably, the promise from Ian and Cassius (but mostly Ian) for firearms training when she gets back, and a pair of custom earplugs for that exact reason- not the simple limiters she’d gotten last year, but actual, proper firearms earplugs, designed with T’karian ears in mind. Normally, she’d really expect  _ both _ to be from Ian, but the earplugs had come along with a note calling her  _ little lion brat _ , and Ian’s always only called her  _ cub. _

“Don’t know,” Ron manages to say through his breakfast, “Think Dumbledore was saying they’d be here within the week. Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons, that is.”

“Don’t they remember that we’re children? I’m pretty sure this is a death contest, wouldn’t it make sense for adults who’ve gone to, I don’t know, magic college, to compete?”

“You really know nothing about how education works in our community, do you?” Neville asks, elbowing Ari in the ribs. She resists the urge to shift and pin her real ears and snarl at him for that. She’s  _ molting, _ she has no patience for this nonsense.

“No, I do not, as I was raised outside of the community for  _ years _ and plan to  _ leave _ for proper college-”

“Oh, so you do have an idea of what you want to do!” Hermione chirps. Ari sighs, and drops her shoulders.

“It’s kind of contingent on me getting adopted. Otherwise, I’m twisting in the wind.”

Hermione narrows her eyes.

“You talked to them about this?”

“No.”

Hermione’s got a point, though. She’s going to  _ keep _ twisting in the wind unless something happens one way or the other- whether she gets adopted, or that route is shut down.

“They’re coming next week, you know that,” Parvati says, pointing her spoon at the rest of the group, “Don’t you all listen to any of the announcements?”

“I-” Seamus starts. Dean shrugs. Ari snorts.

“A bit busy with all of these attempts on my life. Don’t have much space in my schedule. The rest of them have no excuses.”

“Hey!” Ron says, “We  _ help.” _

“Fine, Ron and Hermione have excuses… and Fizz wasn’t here for that, so I guess she gets a pass on this one too. The rest of you, though- you need to pay attention. For those of us busy avoiding murder attempts.”

“Speaking of which, what’s it going to be this year?” Fay asks, “Any bets?”

“What do you mean?” Seamus replies.

“Someone tries to kill her  _ every year. _ Voldemort the first year with a teacher accomplice, Voldemort the second year with a giant snake accomplice-”

“According to Naftali, if I’d been manifested them I wouldn’t actually have had to worry about the venom-”

“Nobody cares, Ari,” Fay interrupts, “Third year, Peter Pettigrew-”

“Does that really count?” Hermione interjects, “He was gone before winter. I’d say Lowell is the one that  _ really _ counts for third year.”

“Lowell?” Dean wonders aloud.

“Double points for third year,” Fay says, waving Hermione off, “Which means, since everything’s gone up in stakes every year-”   
_ “Really?” _ Ron huffs, “I’d think second year tops third.”

“Someone actually  _ succeeded _ right before third, though, it just didn’t stick,” Ari points out, “Third tops second by quantity of parties involved.”

“Will you all  _ let me finish?” _ Fay snaps. The rest of their little section of table quiets, while the chatter of the rest of the Gryffindor table continues on.

“Thank you,” she says, “I’m placing my bets on someone strong-arming her into the Tournament. Hands-off death.”

“I mean, Aviv did warn me about the Cup,” Ari replies hesitantly, “It was pretty cryptic, but she definitely could have been talking about that.”

“Wait, Aviv as in  _ Aviv Hadar? _ You met the most accurate seer in the past few  _ centuries? _ The fate-changer?” Lavender asks. Ari shrugs.

“She’s pretty nice, although it’s  _ weird _ when her eyes shatter and go all glow-y.”

Lavender huffs, clearly offended by this somehow, though Ari’s not sure about specifically  _ what. _

“You really don’t know how lucky you are, do you? Trelawney is the closest thing to a  _ real _ Seer that any of us are ever going to meet, and she’s only made a few genuine prophecies in her entire  _ life. _ You meet someone who’s time traveled  _ billions of years into the future- _

Ari holds her hands up.

“Did you know she’s got a mild horse obsession?”

Lavender slams her hands down on the table and leans on everyone’s food to stare at Ari intently.

“Tell me all about it.”

* * *

_ “Alright, I took your profile and cross-checked it with the perimeter that Lucky gave me-” _

Hotch raises his eyebrows at an entirely unrepentant Mordechai Tavi, who’s finally found a set of light brown contacts that actually work with him, which means he’s ditched the sunglasses, which means that Hotch is reminded that in terms of the developmental level, he’s no older than Reid.

Prentiss seems uncomfortable around the lanky young man, who flashes Hotch a grin.

“I got here before you, might as well look in like you asked me to,” he chirps. The accent’s almost gone- Hotch only hears it when he listens for it- but Prentiss still seems to pick up on  _ something. _

If she can’t be told about what’s  _ really _ happening, this isn’t going to work.

_ “And get  _ this,” Garcia says. Hotch can hear her clapping her hands together on the other end,  _ “There’s only three people that fit both, in any way I look.” _

Mordechai tilts his head. Hotch knows he can hear what’s going on on both ends of the line, no matter what skin he’s in.

Gideon takes over. The other dragon’s eyes narrow as he scans the name on the list, and calls Tavi over for a moment.

The whole group flinches at a deep, rumbling sound that shakes the windows in their frames.

“Earthquake?” Prentiss asks, “Here?”

_ ‘No,’ _ Hotch wants to say,  _ ‘I don’t know which one of them it was, but it was definitely a growl.’ _

“Hotchner, Tavi, you take the third,” Gideon says. The name on the sheet reads  _ Colt Lyons. _

If he hadn’t guessed from Tavi’s demeanor and the name, the terrified cub that slams through the window would have given it away. Hotch is suddenly exceedingly glad to have a T’karian with him when the Nemean busts through the door after the cub- instead of a violent altercation, it ends with a quiet conversation.

There’s something- well, he’s  _ allowed _ to use the word magical, isn’t he, it’s not  _ wrong- _ about how easily other shape-changers will listen to a T’karian. It’s not surprising, not in the least-

But Lyons listens on a personal level, eyes flickering to Tavi with fear and… awe, if Hotch is going to put a word to it. It’s weird, to say the least.

The case ends with a whimper, not a bang.

* * *

Knowing something is going to happen and feeling it happen in real time are two very different things- Ari speaks from experience.

Fortunately, she gets to say hello to the lovely Fleur Delacour along the way (and ignore the little messages her nose is trying to toss in her direction). The Beauxbatons students are all in powder-blue uniforms with a utilitarian cut- they look nothing like the formless robes Hogwarts students wear. If Ari was going to put a name to it, she’d compare them to military dress uniforms. Which is more than a little disconcerting, but Fleur carries herself well in her uniform, and she may very well be the prettiest, smartest woman Ari has ever met. Well, except Hermione, but Hermione is  _ her _ age, and Fleur is a whole  _ three years older, _ which means she’s  _ basically _ an adult. And Hermione can’t judge her for looking up at Fleur with hearts in her eyes, because she’s doing literally the same thing from just across the table.

“You’re so smart,” Ari says, when Fleur begins discussing the history of the Tournament with an enraptured Hermione. Fay laughs at her from where she’s sitting next to Hermione. Ari glares, and resists the urge to throw some sort of baked good at her friend and roommate.

“I do have to admit, this is a very good… change of pace… from other tables,” Fleur hums. There’s something behind her eyes, there-

Oh.  _ Oh. _ Something clicks. Ari’s nose, if it could detach itself from her body, likely would have run around and done a little dance of joy.

_ ‘You’re a Veela,’ _ she thinks, tapping her fingernails against the table with a dopey smile on her face,  _ ‘You’re a shape-shifter! Like me! Like Cedric! Like Ron!’ _

She doesn’t call the other girl out on it, knowing it will likely only spook Fleur and get her to deny it. Ari hopes, if their suspicions are unfounded and there are only three contenders for the Triwizard Tournament, and Fleur, Beauxbatons’s most likely candidate, gets chosen, that Cedric will be one of the other two.

It would be nice to have another shape-shifter to talk shop with. They’ve almost collected a club at this rate.

* * *

Speaking of clubs, her actual club needs attending, which is why Ari, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, Fay, Dean, Seamus, Fizz, Cedric, Ginny, Luna, and now Draco try to cram themselves into the Room of Requirement all at the same time one weekend morning.

“I still don’t understand why none of that  _ did _ anything,” Cedric groans. Draco snorts.

“Releasing my father’s tax returns and proving the amount of bribes he made helped me get out of his house, so I wouldn’t say that was  _ nothing…” _

“You’re still an ass,” Hermione points out, “Just one that’s less likely to actively try to get us killed-“

“Or worse, expelled, we know, Hermione,” Ron cuts in. Cedric sits up and narrows his eyes.

“While I can’t say I  _ mind _ shepherding around this group of children like an overgrown border collie-“

“Cedric, you are just a slightly larger child-“

“I still think we actually need to do  _ something _ ,” Ginny interrupts, “Ced’s still going for the Cup, right?”

“Right.”

“As long as we don’t have to worry about  _ two  _ of us in that death trap, we could feasibly just all look to keep us all alive this year. No attempts to unseat the government-“

“But that’s  _ emotionally rewarding,” _ Luna counters.

“It draws unwanted attention.”

“Fine, no attempts to unseat the government until we’ve dealt with this year’s crisis,” Cedric offers. Ginny nods her assent.

“Once we’re done, I mean seriously, we need to get Fudge out of office, the man’s going to kill someone with his foolishness. I know we don’t have term limits here for the Minister of Magic position, but there is  _ something _ we can do, right?”

“Ugh, I wish. Do you know how difficult it is to get the wizarding populace to vote?”

“Very, I’m sure,” Fizz cuts in, “But what we did last year, with the newspapers- that’s the best you can do for now. Just… try to stay alive this year. Please. For me. All of you actually making an effort would make my job infinitely easier.”

“Aww, but you love a challenge, don’t you, Fizz?” Ari asks, purring at her with a sharp-toothed grin. Fizz huffs, but her spots betray her amusement well enough.

* * *

Their amusement doesn’t last long. Ari’s luck runs out, as it always does, and she sits, eyes transfixed onto the goblet, refusing to move.

_ ‘I wonder what the family would say,’ _ she thinks,  _ ‘About me ending up in so many deadly situations.’ _

(No matter if she’s referring to the Pup Pack or to the Demeru family, the answer will be the same- deadly situations are just par the course for being a multi-form shape shifter from a prominent family, it seems.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh! I managed to get work done on this series! Probably just because my nanowrimo outline is just about done, and i decided to work with the whole mess of worldbuilding I surgically attached to this series, which got me in the mood to write for this again. next chapter is the first task! i have absolutely no idea when it'll be out but hopefully the wait will be less than it was for this chapter, although i make no promises since the gap will probably be lightning rod fueled like this gap was college and epigraphy and the six WIPs i havent posted fueled


	3. branching (or, the first task, and how it's not fair to pit a human against three shape-shifters)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first task, and a bit of change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh. this. huh.

“Right, listen up, people,” Cedric says, slamming a hand down on the desk in the Champion’s room. The headmasters are arguing between each other, but the other Champions all pay almost immediate attention.

In the case of one, slightly too immediate of attention. Cedric  _ knows _ about the no slamming things rule, he’d gotten a talking to via one very irritable green-eyed wolf about it, but there’s really no other way to get the attention of the other two Champions, much less any other way to get them to  _ shut up. _

He’s halfway through a tirade that’s rapidly increasing in volume of  _ this brat’s nearly died too many times to enter in this competition of her own free will _ and  _ are you kidding we literally talked about this beforehand and if you EVEN DARE- _ when he realizes that Ari’s gone far too quiet for the snarky little kid who listed off all of her near-death experiences only just last week.

“Oh. Oh,  _ no.” _

The Gryffindor is curled up in on herself, chin on her knees, hands curled tight around her hair as she tugs and tugs and tugs. Cedric hits the ground knees-first, and stretches out his hands, flat, with the palms up.

Human form or not, a T’karian fledgeling  _ this _ terrified is a danger. He knows what happened in D.C. too well to not be aware of that.

Ari’s pupils flicker from wide-eyed to practically nothing as she examines his fingers, and curls her hand- light, strong, untipped in the claws she’d normally use to protect herself- around his.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” she says, “I trust you, Ced.”

And honestly, that breaks Cedric more than he thought anything ever would.

His roommate asks him why he’s crying, later.

Cedric says nothing.

Everyone that matters would already know.

* * *

If she’s being honest, Viktor Krum never stood a chance.

Well, maybe a little bit of one, before they found out what the first task was. Now, though?  _ Now,  _ Ari knows they’re going to try to pit non-sentient four-limbed dragons against a Veela, a six-limbs, and a T’karian… and one lone human.

Ari is almost absolutely certain that this is not going to end well for Viktor, even if it’s not going to end well for herself or Cedric’s abilities to hide what they are, either.

“We should train,” she says, green eyes flickering over to meet Cedric’s gray, “I know Fizz is suggesting full-shift and intimidation, but Ced, we don’t want to play  _ all _ of our cards.”

“True enough,” Cedric replies, and leans up to look at Ron and Ginny, who raise their hands and shake their heads in unison.

_ “We’re not your tessssst ssssssubjectsssssss,” _ Ginny says, and Ron nods in agreement.

“Wasn’t asking that,” Ari explains, “I was just going to ask if you think there’s any specifics we need to know.”

Ginny cocks her head to the side, forked tongue flickering in the vague direction of the other dragons.

“Don’t mess with their eggs,” she says, “and you should do just fine.”

* * *

And of course, it’s egg-related. Ari slinks back, ears pinned behind her head, after discovering that little fact. Cedric sighs, and leans back in his chair. Ari hums, and taps her foot.

“Hey, wanna race?” she asks, not knowing anything else that could be helpful for the moment. Cedric sighs, and shrugs his shoulders.

Ari doesn’t notice the looks of concern he keeps sending in her direction throughout their flight. Fizz notices, because Fizz always notices- her eyes are as sharp as her teeth and her feathers, after all- but if one were to ask her, Fizz would state that she agreed with him.

Ari, of course, doesn’t know about this. Then again, she  _ is _ the resident fledgeling-in-danger- some fussing is expected.

Later that night, while she’s preening her tail feathers, she looks up in concern. The rest of the girls look away, as if they’ve been  _ caught _ fussing over their friend.

* * *

“You know, she’s not going to call back sooner if you keep pacing a hole in the floor, Ian,” Cassius chides gently. The werewolf snorts, and shakes his head.

_ “I know. I’m just… worried, you know? This whole mess the past year, it hasn’t been… I’m just worried about her, Cass.” _

“I know.”

_ “Between a death match-” _

“Not a death match, but still.”

_ “And what  _ feels _ like what’s soon to be another murder attempt, I think I have a right to be worried! That’s our kid we’re talking about, here!” _ Ian shouts, gesturing wildly with his paws.

“I know! I know. Look, we’ll give her tips, okay? Worst case scenario, she-”

_ “Cass, you know how the ‘Being’ classification is treated in the UK,” _ Ian says dangerously,  _ “at least in wizarding circles. You  _ know _ why most Moondancers don’t go into traditional wizardry circles-” _

“Beyond the fact that we use an entirely different kind of magic, I am aware. Given that I’m a born non-human from the UK, I thought that was obvious. Your point is?”

_ “She’s not going to shift, even to save her life, and you KNOW it. Manifests get  _ one _ anti-death ticket, and you  _ know _ she used it already.” _

Cassius sighs, and reaches over to scratch between Ian’s ears.

“I know. Believe me, I know.”

There’s a buzzing, from his phone. With a hopeful expression, Cassius turns to check it.

**youngest doctorate usurper: we need to talk. NOW.**

“You’re on speakerphone,” he says, tapping his foot against the floor nervously.

_ “Found our missing cousin,” _ Shoshannah bites. Cassius jolts to his feet. There’s something absolutely  _ wrecked _ in the kid’s voice- he knows she just lost her dad, but there’s something  _ else _ there, too.

“What?”

_ “You heard me. Missing cousin. He lives in Boston. Cass. It’s worse than Davie.” _

“Shit,” Casssius says, “No, oh  _ no.” _

He remembers Davina. Remembers how  _ betrayed _ she’d been, rescued by a distant relation while her pack barely did anything. Davina’s back on her feet, now, but Cassius is pretty sure she’s the angriest kid he’s ever met, and that’s when he’s counting his daughter.

He doesn’t berate himself for the mental slip. He doesn’t even catch it, not really.

_ “Yeah,” _ Shoshannah growls,  _ “He didn’t  _ say _ anything, it didn’t even  _ register _ until I was already back on the plane, but… he reminds me of you, actually.” _

“In what…”

_ “In the trauma way.” _

“Oh.”

There’s a yawning grave in the pit of his stomach.

“Name?” he asks.

_ “Gabriel Azose. Like I said, he lives in Boston. Do a background check on his dad- David Hewitt- if you want, I wouldn’t bother, he checks out to me, but I know you types are a little more-” _

“Paranoid, yeah.”

_ “Oh, also, I may or may not have barreled into him because I thought he was going to attack Stephen, but in my defense-” _

“Shoshannah. Go home. Go to bed. We’ve got this from here, alright?” Cassius hums, “I’ll reach out. Invite him to a family reunion, at the very least. Heaven knows Ari needs to meet more of you pups around her age, at the very least.”

_ “Aww, you want to show off your daughter.” _

“Shut up, bird brain.”

_ “I’m a child, you’re not allowed to talk to me like that.” _

“You’re my cousin, I’m allowed to make fun of you. Family prerogative.”

By the time he hangs up, he’s almost completely forgotten about Ari.

Almost.

* * *

“So, what, Moody thinks the only spell worth practicing is a summoning charm?” Cedric asks, scratching the back of his head. Ari shrugs, lashing her tail from side to side, and sighs, flaring out her wings.

“I know, it was really weird. It’s not the only spell I’ve been practicing with him, but I think he really wants me to use that one in particular. Honestly, I’m debating whether or not to bait whatever dragon I end up getting into breaking their chains, fly for cloud cover, and then ditch the broom at this point.”

“But what if there’s no cloud cover?” Cedric points out. Ari flares her wings once again- dark, dark green, and deep black, and gunmetal gray, and flickers of white, looking almost like… lighting in a thunderstorm. Cedric feels like an idiot.

“Kill me now,” he says, “Just. Just smite me with lightning, or  _ something.” _

“Well, you  _ were _ being pretty silly.  _ No cloud cover, _ Cedric, do you think I’m forgetful or something?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I guess the only explanation that makes sense is  _ you _ getting forgetful in your old age, then.”

“Old age-  _ ARI! _ I’m  _ seventeen!” _

“Yeah, and I’m fourteen!”

_ “WE’RE BOTH DRAKISH!” _

“I know our species group ages slower than humans, but you’re still three years older than me.”

“I can’t- Ari. I can’t do this right now.”

“What, did I make your little reptilian brain go boom?” she teases.

“If you weren’t essentially my baby sister, I swear, I’d  _ charbroil _ you right now,” Cedric growls, although he knows that  _ Ari _ knows it’s an empty threat, nothing but gentle teasing. The fledgeling laughs and shakes her wings out, a clear sign for  _ I heard you and I know you’re full of shit. _

She slips away, flickering out of sight in the blink of an eye. Cedric sighs. He wishes  _ he _ had the ability to turn invisible whenever he wanted, it would save a lot of effort in saving his reputation when it comes to sneaking back down into the Hufflepuff dorms after late-night flights like this one. Between the rest of the flying brood and Ari, he rarely gets to actually go to sleep when he’s supposed to.

Well, at least there’s no Quidditch this year, so it’s not like he has to get up early or anything.

Cedric freezes, and stares at his hands.

He’s just internally vocalized his  _ relief _ at the absence of Quidditch.

What has he  _ done? _

* * *

It’s no small wonder he’s been so glad to join the fledgelings on these flights- he has no other aerial outlet beyond sneaking out in the dead of night to fly. At least, not now, not since Quidditch was cancelled. Had this been a different world, the last time Cedric Diggory would have flown was before the start of term. As it is, this world is a very different one, in more ways than just the simple explanations.

A dragon like him will make fun of Ari for her over-reliance on the air at some point, down the line. The lion brat will laugh, showing off sharp fangs that haven’t dulled with the centuries (of course not, after all, T’karians regrow them every ten to twenty years or so, it would make little sense for them to have lost their sharpness). 

She’ll tease them right back, lightning in her eyes, and challenge them, as she always does to the people that laugh alongside her, to a race.

By that point, dragons have gotten used to losing.

* * *

Three days before the First Task, her dads show up.

Ari doesn’t even realize she’s started calling them that in her head until she’s staring Cassius Blackwood in the face, feeling exceedingly conflicted.

“Hi,” she says, and rushes the Moondancer. Ian laughs, and she drags him into the hug, too, wrapping around both of them with a truly immense set of wings.

“Oof, cub, you think that’s crushing us? Pretty sure Cass’s grandmother could do better than that,” Ian says with a laugh.

“My grandmother helped run a guerilla campaign, I don’t think it’s fair to compare,” Cassius chides.

“I meant your paternal grandmother.”

“Oh. Fair.”

Ari can’t help but laugh. She’s just as tall as Cassius, now, and getting taller, but there’s still something  _ safe _ about hugging her dad.

Oh.  _ Oh. _

She doesn’t know if Cassius caught the little slip in her head (of course he did, he’s a telepath, and she’s never been good at keeping her thoughts to herself and herself alone, but he’s not going to call her out on it- instead, he’s going to cry that night that she called him  _ Dad-) _ , but she most certainly has. It’s not surprising, not really- they’ve taken over that role in her life for over a full year now. She’d be more surprised if she didn’t feel  _ like this _ about it.

“Anyways,” Cassius says, ducking his head, “We just wanted to wish you luck. You know. Before you go off and risk your life because some-”

Ian clamps a hand around Cass’s shoulder in warning, jerking his head towards the rest of the parents’ section. Ari leans up to get a better look, and is unsurprised to find Amos Diggory giving her the stink eye. He still doesn’t trust her, Ari supposes. Looking further, though, she finds…

“Hey, Sirius! Remus!” Ian calls, stepping between the wizard and werewolf and the T’karian, who huffs irritably and stalks forwards, throwing her arms around her sort-of-uncle and her godfather.

“How are you two doing?” she asks.

“Great, actually! We’ve been subsumed into the general east coast moondancer coalition territories, so I think we’ll probably be staying in the States or Canada for a while, but we were worried about you kids,” Sirius says, ruffling her hair, “You and Ced… fuck, this is  _ still _ dangerous, no matter how many precautions they have in place.”

“Sirius, language,” Cassius rumbles. Ari’s godfather rolls her eyes.

“We’ve both heard you say far worse than I have, Blackwood.”

“To be fair, that’s usually after about six hours in the operating room,” Cassius cuts, hands behind his back. He sighs, and takes one away to scrub at his face.

“Right, lion cub, one question. Do you have a plan? One that doesn’t involve revealing what you are?” he asks. Ari sucks in a breath, and nods.

“I do. Trust me, da- ah, Cassius, I do.”

_ ‘Did they hear that slip-up?’ _ she thinks to herself, cringing. If she’d been looking up at the rest of them, she would have caught the fond looks in Cass and Ian’s eyes, and the faint hint of tears in Sirius and Remus’s, and she wouldn’t have had to ask that question in the first place.

* * *

Two days before the task, Ari goes out on a flight with Fleur Delacour.

It may seem like a stupid idea- and if you were to ask any of her other friends, they would probably agree. Sneaking off with Cedric can be explained away by even the likes of Rita Skeeter as simple training- it helps, of course, that the two of them have mock duels all over the school grounds, and that Cedric saved her life last year, and that every single one of the Requirement Team practically thinks of him as an older brother, but Ari likes to think that Rita Skeeter would be fool enough to ignore the signs of a plot afoot, anyways- but Fleur…

Fleur is another matter altogether. She’s quick, and smart, and although she’s not quite the flier that Ari is, she’s not…  _ entirely _ terrible.

Ari manages to be graceful for the entirety of the flight. However, as soon as they touch the ground, as soon as Fleur asks her a question, her mind goes entirely blank. What she  _ can _ remember is the overwhelming feeling of embarrassment and the reddening of her face. This, of course, is primarily because Rory has arrived, and Rory, doing her sacred duty as a combination of a sister and a barely-older aunt, teases sher relentlessly about it.

“Aww, does someone have a  _ crush?” _ she laughs, tugging at Ari’s ear (gently, of course- Rory knows her own strength). Ari lays those same ears back, and blinks wildly at her.

“When did you get here?”

“Three AM. What, did you think I wasn’t going to come here for backup? ‘Course I was, kiddo. If you need, Cass and I are prepared to memory-wipe everyone in the stands. We  _ are _ both Type Fives, after all.”

“I… still don’t know what that means,” Ari says hesitantly, like someone might get angry at her for voicing her concern. Rory sighs, and pulls her into a hug.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. Go get ‘em, okay?” she purrs, ruffling Ari’s hair. Ari glowers, and, keeping green eyes trained on green, ties her hair back so that Rory can’t meddle with it anymore.

For once, Ari’s giant, fang-filled smile is genuine, rather than a threat.

She could get used to this.

* * *

It’s the last day before the task. Ari has the summoning charm down, and a handful of A/C spells, courtesy of Rory, that she’s probably not allowed to use, given that she’d have to explain  _ why  _ she, a British witch trained in the witchcraft-and-wizardry style of magic, is learning a type of magic primarily reserved for Drakish people (and Moondancers and Kesta, in particular- dragons and T’karians are less adept at it on average, to say the least).

Although, Rory’s  _ already here. _ It’s not like Ari has to  _ hide _ the fact that she knows the other woman, and she’s well-known for her talent in it, even if she’s not quite as skilled in the  _ rest _ of the Moondancer Roster as her brother.

So perhaps, just maybe, she  _ could _ use them. Maybe she could use  _ any _ kind of magic already at her disposal. And speaking of...

“Hey!” Cedric calls, waving her down from the opposite side of the hallway, “You know what we talked about, before?”

Ari looks up at the shining sun in the sky, not due to go away any day soon, and swallows.

She’s never tried to make a weather-change look  _ natural. _ It doesn’t come easily to her, not in the same way that the sudden appearance of rolling thunderheads and the flickers of lightning do. But if the both of them will need it… she’ll darken the sky, tomorrow.

And she’ll cover her tracks, too.

By the time school ends that day, dark clouds are already hovering on the horizon, and the wind has picked up fiercely. That night, Ari is certain of the fact that the rest of her Gryffindor yearmates know  _ exactly _ what is going on.

Good.

* * *

The morning of the First Task dawns… without a true dawn. It’s dark until it isn’t, and even then, it’s still dreary and dim outside. The thunderheads hang low, like Ari had wanted them to, and they’ve already begun releasing a deluge of water, to the vocal disappointment of the spectators, who likely wanted to see dragons burning things (and potentially children) to a crisp.

She doesn’t pay much mind to the other competitors, beyond Cedric. Apparently Cedric’s version of the task involves… a dog. No, instead, Ari stares at the miniature Hungarian Horntail curling around her fingers.

Carefully, she hides the little thing in her bag. She can  _ tell,  _ just by looking, that it’s not  _ alive, _ but that it  _ could _ be, if she just pushed a little bit of effort into it.

That’s not a thought to entertain, at the moment.

Instead, she steps out into the arena when she’s called, and thinks of the gift her godfather had graced her with.

She summons her broomstick, and she flies _.  _ (Oh, does she  _ fly _ ).

The egg is already secure in her hands when she hears the suspicious rattling of chains- something that she doubts a human would be able to pick up, but to her is clear as day.

“Alright,” she whispers to herself, “Let’s see how high you can fly, missy. Bet it’s not as high as  _ I _ can.”

* * *

That’s not actually an incorrect assumption. Ron and Cedric have both made vocal complaints about her and Fizah’s lung capacity. It’s more than reasonable to expect that at the very least, the Horntail isn’t going to make it quite as high as Ari can go.

She hears wingbeats close behind her, and makes for cloud cover. There’s a cacophony of angry noises behind her, but Ari doesn’t care- she’s a T’karian, ambush from self-made cover is her style.

Ari doubles back, rocketing towards the ground, and just in time, too- the Horntail releases a massive jet of flame in midair.

After that, it’s less of a game of cat and mouse, and more of a game of cheetah and pronghorn, because, as Ari is just now learning, the Hungrarian Horntail, once given time to warm up, is, in fact, faster than her.

She doesn’t realize she’s let go of her broomstick until she’s falling, falling, falling towards the lake, egg clutched closely to her chest, view of the stands (and the stands’ view of her) blocked by Hogwarts itself.

It’s not like last year.

It’s not like last year  _ at all. _

This time, Ari isn’t passed out. This time, she’s not terrified of someone seeing her, of someone  _ knowing. _ No, this time, she’s in complete control.

It’s time for this Horntail to get with the program.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so you know how i said "idk when the next chapter's coming out lmao" well uh. i guess it's now haha.


End file.
